For 23-year-old Betty Ogundipe from London art-making is more than just an outlet for self expression. It is a catalyst for connection and healing, a powerful force capable of enhancing our lives and generating new perspectives.
A graduate of Central Saint Martins and Slade School Of Art whose practice spans painting, photography, textiles, sculpture and video, Ogundipe draws from her personal journey to make art that speaks a language of truth. A language of shared emotions and experiences that blurs the divide between individual and collective histories.
Straddling the line between abstraction and documentary realism, her oeuvre offers an escape into spaces of comfort and belonging, while inviting reflection and introspection. Bold in colour and energetic in execution, Ogundipe’s artworks address issues of widespread cultural impact, spurring viewers to question their beliefs and assumptions about the society they live in and the world in general.
In her debut solo exhibition, LOVE/FIGHT – at Tache, London, from 18th September to 23rd October – Betty Ogundipe engages in narratives of Black femininity that aim at challenging abiding stereotypes and biases. The works on display bear witness to the strength and resilience women draw on, as well as to the many struggles they endure while wading through life. Articulating themes of visibility, identity, and the politics of representation, Ogundipe takes on dominant visual languages rooting in the fraught and controversial history of Black representation to free the female body from the constraints of a prejudicial, gendering, and racialized gaze.
The highlights of the show include the diptych Enjoy and Cheerleader, offering a new take on a well-trodden archetype of popular culture; the Fight series, reflecting on conflict, tenacity and survival; and Thinking and Mother and Baby Unit, offering a glimpse into the beauty and meaning of motherhood. A poignant and urgent exhibition, LOVE/FIGHT weaves together vulnerability, endurance and raw, unfiltered intensity to serve as a reminder that Black women – when not purposely relegated to the fringes of the visual landscape – have historically been made to represent almost everything, but their own truth.
1883 Arts Editor caught up with Betty Ogundipe to talk about LOVE/FIGHT, Black femininity and what it would take to make the art industry more diverse and inclusive.
Hello Betty, thank you for finding time for 1883 Magazine. Can you tell us about yourself? What was your route to becoming an artist?
Thanks for having me. I grew up as an only child, with a very vivid imagination. I remember that most of the time, I didn’t really understand what was going on around me. So using drawings, objects, clothes, and textiles was my way of signalling and communicating with others. Art was never really my ‘niche’. I just realised I was doing it after years of trying to communicate ideas and messages. It became a language closer to me than speaking. And next thing I knew I was taking the GCSE early, half my A levels in it, and then at art school. I love building and creating things. Honestly, it’s hard to get me to do anything else.
You work across painting, photography, textile, installation, and moving image. How do you decide which medium to use for a particular idea?
I think it’s more the idea than deciding which medium it might need. For example, I have these ‘anti-paintings’ in my exhibition, they remind me of flags. Really they’re just a bunch of colours to make a symbol. If the symbol needs to be big, bold and expressive, I’ll go that way. If it can be felt, I’ll find a way.
How do you approach your subject matter? What is your creative process like?
I usually sit with a thought until it’s telling me it needs to be made into something. My subject matter is all based on truth. On true experiences. I sketch out a lot. I spend a lot of my time making tiny wacky paintings and drawings to understand what I’m trying to say. Then I decide if it needs fleshing out or not.
Can you tell us about your upcoming debut solo exhibition at Tache, LOVE/FIGHT? What can we expect to see in the show?
LOVE/FIGHT is my debut but it does feel like a culmination of things. I consider it to be the first part of my manifesto for my work – based on my own experiences, and what feels current. You can expect to see a lot of softness, themes of protection and resilience. Maybe a couple of surprises. The main question I’m asking in this show to start with is ‘as black women, how do we protect ourselves’? It’s a question I’m asking constantly.
Much of your work revolves around themes of Black femininity and resilience. How do you think art – and your art in particular – can help reframe the narrative around Black female bodies and experiences?
Well, I have this rule: No Naked Black Bodies. I’ve come to dislike the idea of a woman’s body being exposed, and on display, because I think it is sacred and private. While this doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate the art and culture surrounding that, it doesn’t align with the representation I want to see, my values or my beliefs. I’m hoping that with the body of work I’m starting to produce, I can prove that this discourse can have other dimensions to it. Femininity doesn’t have to be defined by a culture of exposure. I’m at war with the objectification of the female body, anyways.
As a black female artist, what would you like to see from the art world in terms of ensuring a more diverse, equitable and inclusive industry?
Real equity can’t be cosmetic. I want to see long-term support; access to resources, not just visibility. I want young Black women to feel like they belong in studios, institutions, and leadership roles without having to dilute themselves or ‘be the show’. And I’d really like to see more funding for us. Just before I left art school I was constantly asking, ‘why does it seem like I have to make some sort of spectacle of myself, go viral, perform, for people to take me seriously, as a Black artist’? I don’t want to be an influencer, I just want to make work. Now it’s like I have to get cosigned by someone who’s already famous, just to be heard. I don’t want that for the next generation of artists.
What artists, writers and creatives in general do you look to for inspiration?
Wow, there are so many. I don’t really look to other visual artists for inspiration. I believe we each have our own story to create and tell, but there are people that excite me. James Baldwin, Janiva Ellis, Spike Lee, Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Juno Calypso, Tolu Coker, Grace Wales Bonner. That’s just off the top of my head. There are so many more.
What do you hope the audience takes away from LOVE/FIGHT?
I want people to use this first exhibition as a reminder to keep going. Sometimes, just existing is enough. Especially for women. In many places, cultures, spaces, our existence is resistance, our existence is political.
As a final question, what does the future hold in store for you?
I don’t want to say too much, but any medium I haven’t touched yet results only from a lack of time or space. The work in this exhibition was incubated in a studio of eight square metres. Soon, though, movies and clothing. More risk, more work, more depth. I think that a medium, a material, can be a backbone to community building. So I care about them all.
LOVE/FIGHT runs from 18th September to 23rd October at Tache, London, for more info visit www.tachegallery.com.
Interview Jacopo Nuvolari
Top image credit
Portrait of Betty Ogundipe, Courtesy of the artist, photography Mariana Pires
